20 February 2026
A welder, dismissed by Transnet Engineering for dishonesty and fraud in February 2018, is facing jail time for defamatory social media posts he has made against the parastatal. Illustration: Lisa Nelson
A welder, dismissed by Transnet Engineering for dishonesty and fraud in February 2018, is facing jail time for defamatory social media posts he has made about the parastatal. He has repeatedly ignored court orders to delete the posts and stop posting more defamatory content.
This week, Durban High Court Judge Rob Mossop gave Musa Mbundwini a final warning. The judge warned there will be “no wriggle room” if Mbundwini again posted videos that defame the company.
“I have no doubt the suspended sentence [of 30 days] will be imposed if he again disobeys the conditions of suspension,” Mossop said.
He ordered Mbundwini to immediately delete the remaining videos on his social, and that he refrains from posting further videos. The judge also authorised Transnet’s attorneys or the Sheriff to approach TikTok to delete any related videos from Mbundwini’s account which he claimed he could no longer access.
Mossop is the fifth judge to deal with applications brought by Transnet to stop Mbundwini publishing allegations relating to his dismissal. Mbundwini maintains he was unfairly dismissed, although two hearings found that he had been treated fairly.
Previous courts found he had defamed Transnet and ordered him to stop. Two judges later imposed a 30-day prison sentence for contempt of court, suspended on condition that he comply with the orders.
The matter before Mossop was a further contempt application by Transnet to enforce the suspended sentence after Mbundwini allegedly failed to comply with an order granted in August 2025.
Transnet’s attorneys said Mbundwini made 37 more posts on TikTok and Facebook since that ruling.
Mossop said Mbundwini offered no satisfactory explanation for this, instead attaching hundreds of pages of documents relating to his dismissal and reiterating the alleged “wrongs” he claimed to have been subjected to.
The judge noted that Mbundwini, who was unrepresented, had previously received free legal representation by the KZN Society of Advocates, although this had not lasted long.
He also laid a charge with the police against one judge who ruled against him, but the NPA declined to prosecute.
Judge Mossop described Mbundwini’s conduct in court on 12 February as “quite unlike anything that I have ever witnessed in 40 years of appearing in, and presiding over, courts of law”.
He said Mbundwini, donning a full length green and yellow robe with leopard print fabric around the shoulders, shouted, screamed, wept and panted while making comments about the proceedings, the lawyers for Transnet and the court. He refused to sit, remain silent or obey instructions and eventually court security intervened.
“It was a startling and profoundly disturbing spectacle to witness,” the judge said.
After standing the matter down to regain order, Massop invited Mbundwini to take the oath and explain why he should not be held in contempt of the previous court orders. He again shouted abuse.
“I seriously considered whether he was suffering from a mental condition but after observing him, I concluded that he knew what he was doing and his conduct was simply designed to achieve two things: to disrupt the proceedings and secondly to play to the gallery. He was quite capable of controlling himself when he chose to,” Mossop said.
He said he could have immediately found him in contempt but chose not to inflame the situation. Instead, he adjourned the matter to give him a final opportunity to avoid imprisonment.
He said this was because prison was to be avoided if at all possible; that Transnet would be no better off if the videos remained on social media while he was incarcerated; and that Mbundwini was not legally represented.
He adjourned the matter to 17 February, giving Mbudwini a final chance to delete the posts.
On that day, Transnet’s lawyers reported that some videos had been deleted. However, Mbundwini posted three more videos, including one stating that Mossop, who he described as a female Afrikaans judge, had agreed during the previous hearing that he had been unfairly dismissed and that Transnet was acting fraudulently.
Judge Mossop said this was still not a reason to send him to jail.
“There is no doubt that he considers himself to have been gravely wronged. But rather than move on with his life, he appears to have devoted the last eight years to attempting to disparage and defame [Transnet], its employees, and its processes”.
Judge Mossop said it was not clear how Mbundwini’s “objectionable” conduct could possibly have helped him achieve his goal of reinstatement.
“He could have spent the eight years since his dismissal far more profitably. The moment has come for him to take a reality check. And it is time for him to accept that he is a member of the broader community to whom the rule of law applies … disobedience has consequences.”
Judge Mossop said Mbundwini had largely purged his contempt by deleting most of the videos. If he failed to comply with the latest court order, he would be the “master of his own misfortune”.
The court found Mbundwini in contempt of the previous orders, but re-suspended the prison sentence for five years on condition that he delete the remaining videos. Mbundwini was ordered to pay Transnet’s legal costs.